The railway wasn't fairing much better. Many engines were in for overhauls and repairs due to crews riding them roughly. Things seemed to be at rock bottom until.....
“EUREKA!”
“What is it?”
“A breakthrough!”
“Next time, warn us.”
“Sorry, but the idea is based on the unbuilt designs of the Standard class 8F 2-8-0, 2-8-2T, 2-8-4T and the many Standard Range tank engines. If we can build these engines, maybe, just maybe we can keep traffic moving,” Alistair said.
“Fit with conventional valve gear?” Rainbow asked.
“No, The 8F 2-8-4T's will be fit with Joy Valve gear and Caprotti motion,” Alistair replied.
“Ah, It's a joy because it's easy to maintain?” came the question.
“No, it's a joy because it's a pain in the backside.”
That brought out the groans, but the human was too excited and ran to catch the next train to the Crystal Empire, where he presented his ideas to the workcolts and mares. They set to work almost immediately, after sending out several locos for testing. One such loco was a 2-8-0 and updated version of the Super D, with 9mm injector trimmers and patched water feed pipes to keep water from dropping between the frames.
“Improvements?”
“Yes, to give a more comfortable ride,” The chief said.
Alistair nodded and left to see the trials. The 2-8-0 Super G2z was doing well. Crews loved the redesign and found it kept speed easily, while handling 2,450 tons, easily out pulling the 9F, which could handle 2,200 tons.
Alistair chuckled, then turned to see the work mares fitting oil burning equipment, as well as a Giesl ejector to another Super D they got their hooves on. He didn't stick around for he had other things to attend to.
One of these other things was the new construction of a steel mill outside of Starlight's village. The construction process saw the removal of earth and rubble to a sorting facility outside Van Hoover.
For such a job, the railway employed Robinson 04s, S160s, and 7200s. The heavy freight locos loved the challenge, but soon Super D's and Caledonian 492's were also employed on the duties. The 0-8-0's made even shorter work of the dirty goods. However, that wouldn't last.
Just outside of the Crystal Empire is a town that everyone called Fetshill. The layout there was awkward. There were two loops either side of the double track mainline with a crossover to the wrong road.
The signalbox there had traditions that would drive any sane railway type nuts. By the rules in place, no more than two signalponies or signalmen should be in the box, but there were often five to eight in the box, talking.
Crews shunted wrong road only signed the roster and didn't check. Thankfully, the box had a booking lad to make sure everything was checked and to the rules specified. After several months, the crews in the box kicked him for “going above his station”. That would prove to be the biggest mistake made.
It was a rather hectic day in the box, with no fewer then 45 trains being passed in both directions. Two goods trains, the Up coal to the Crystal Empire and Down general goods to Van Hoover were put into the loops to allow several faster trains to over take.
Following the faster trains was a local service, with an express barking up on it's heels. The local, as done many times before, was shunted wrong road to allow the express to thunder on. As that was happening, the fireman signed the register and didn't check that the signals were protected and simply walked back to his engine for a well deserved tea.
No sooner had the door shut, the driver of the coal train shuddered.
“Summat wrong?” asked the firemare?
“Yes,” the driver said.
He looked at the local, then turned to see the signal protecting the wrong road shunted train come off. He jumped and ran up the stairs and burst in, shouting for them to reset the signals before danger came.
However, a fast puffing was heard and a whistle rang out. They saw the firemare charge out with a red flag. She flew like mad and began waving the flag mad and screaming for the train to stop.
The train in question was a mixed train of soldiers and holidaying ponies. The driver, a former guard, was aiming to get his train to the Crystal Empire on time. The firecolt saw the flag and tried to tell him, but the driver was not having it. They rounded the bend and saw the local on the line ahead.
“Look what you've done!” the driver of the coal shouted as the Holiday/Soldier express plowed headlong into the local train.
Just then, there was a scream of brakes and they turned to see another express plow headlong into the wreckage. The uninjured crews set to work cleaning the mess while the coal train's driver returned all signals to danger and demanded the signalmen there send “Obstruction Danger” notices up and down the line.
Once all that was done, he returned to the carnage and began digging for survivors. Wreck crews were sent up to help clean things up. The three trains were damaged and the coaches, despite being steel, were crushed and some were even peeled like a banana. The undamaged coaches and uninjured patrons of the coaches were dragged back to the last stations on their journeys. Once there, the wreck crews set to work cleaning up and separating the entangled trains. When they managed to sort the trains, the three engines and the front potions of all three passenger trains were straight write offs.
“Idiots,” Alistair muttered when he heard.
The royals, who were informed, were all looking queasy. However, the others were looking more like they wanted to go on a reaming raid.
“This...how...?” Luna asked.
“Broken rules and mistaken actions,” Alistair huffed.
They stared in shock.
“We'll sort it out,” he replied. “I got reports and statements.”
They nodded. He left and spent his day with Dangersignal and Dragonstorm going over reports.
“Young idiots,” Dangersignal sighed.
They nodded.
“Well boys, reports all night long,” he said. “We're gonna need lots of coffee and headache medicine.”